We’re back. The Insiders have been well ahead of the pack on Hideki Matsui, pointing out last April that the Japanese slugger would be coming to the Yankees.

After careful observation of Matsui the past two weeks, we have no doubts Godzilla is going to be a major New York success story, but don’t just take our word for it. Listen to Reggie Jackson.

Jackson, a Level One Hall of Famer, has been impressed with what he has seen of Matsui and from the first day of spring training has proclaimed Matsui as the real home run deal.

And Reggie knows home runs. He blasted 563 of them in his career. How good will Matsui be? This good.

Reggie was recently learning to say “30” in Japanese because that is how many home runs he feels Matsui will hit this season with the Yankees. The word Reggie learned is san-ju.

“He won’t hit them like I hit them,” Jackson said of Matsui, who ripped 332 home runs in his 10 years in Japan, “but he’ll hit 30. He’s got Mattingly power. Just enough.

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” adds Jackson, who is one of the best there is at understanding hitters and their swings. Don Mattingly drilled 222 home runs during his career, including a major-league-record 10 over an eight-game span. The way Matsui hits the ball to all fields with his left-handed swing of beauty and the classy way he handles himself, perhaps we’ll soon be referring to Godzilla as Hidek-ie Baseball.

TATTOO TITLE HOLDER

Casey Exton, who has a race horse stable named Outlaw Biker, is publisher of Tabu Tattoo magazine. He wants Mike Tyson, whose facial tattoo has been heralded all over the world, to be on the cover of a forthcoming issue. “I’ll take the pictures personally,” Exton tells us. “We don’t believe in checkbook journalism. Celebrities with tattoos like Cher have been in the magazine. For Mike, who loves tattoos, to be on the cover, would be a status symbol for him.”

CURSE OF THE XBOX

Nomar Garciaparra has his own video game now just like Derek Jeter. Garciaparra will appear on the cover and serve as spokesperson for Xbox’s “Inside Pitch 2003.” Joining the All-Star shortstop on his new team are broadcasters Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have my own video game,” Garciaparra says. “Microsoft Game Studios has done a great job capturing the way I play baseball. From my routines at the plate to my plays deep in the hole.” The game will hit stores in May and will be Xbox Live enabled.

BAD BOY NOW GOOD

Edwin Moses and Boris Becker welcomed Bad Boy John McEnroe to the Laureus World Sports Academy this past week. The former world No. 1 tennis player becomes the 41st member of the Laureus Academy, a dedicated team of sporting greats who promote the use of sport as a way to improve living conditions for young people around the world and is the driving force behind the Laureus World Sports Awards held in Monaco in May. “The most exciting and beautiful person that I ever met in my life was Nelson Mandela and today I publicly support what he said and believes, that sport can change the world,” McEnroe said, following his induction. “We should all be sticking together during these troubled times and I am excited about the work this group does around the world. I certainly want to play my part and do what I can to help.”

PATH TO SUCCESS

One former big leaguer was asked how his son was doing and if the young man was following in his father’s major-league footsteps. The ex-player said his son had no desire to play baseball for a living, but that won’t stop him from becoming a general manager. “I want to be like the rest of them,” the son told the father. “I want to never play a game and become a GM. Go to Harvard, go to Yale, get a Masters and be a GM.”

The kid has a point. Not one NL GM has played a game in the majors and only four teams in the AL have GMs who played in the majors. Those teams are the Orioles with Jim Beattie and Mike Flanagan, Oakland’s Billy Beane, the Angels’ Bill Stoneman and the White Sox’ Ken Williams.

ANOTHER SLAMMIN’ SOSA

Sammy Sosa has a cousin who can pack a wallop, too. Victoriano Sosa is looking to share the spotlight with his slamming cousin. Victoriano Sosa, 28, a 34-3-3 lightweight with 25 KOs, from Santiago of the Dominican Republic, will take on Angel Manfredy (40-6-1, 29 KOs) during the semi-main event for “Monday Night Fights” presented by DiBella Entertainment and HBO Pay-Per-View on March 31st at the Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort. “I’m going to miss the Mets opener, but at least I’ll get to watch Sosa,” says Lou DiBella. “We’ll find out if he hits as hard as his cousin.”

POSTSCRIPTS

Islanders coach Peter Laviolette and five of his coaches were in Sarge’s Deli eating lunch on Monday. Peter is partial to the chicken soup, pastrami and swiss on a club roll and a Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry soda … Do the New York Dragons have The Next Kurt Warner? The irony is that the Dragons are descendants of Warner’s old Iowa Barnstormers, which means that if he ever returned to his Arena Football league roots, he just might be Aaron Garcia’s (36 TDs, 2 INT) backup … F.I.S.T. (Fighters’ Initiative for Support and Training) and OPEIU, Local 153 AFL-CIO, along with boxing greats Larry Holmes, Gerry Cooney, Bobby Czyz, Jake LaMotta, Carlos Ortiz and Vito Antuofermo, will announce the formation of a Boxer’s Guild Tuesday at Gallagher’s.